By Kevin Wilkeson, PubClub.com Beer Blogger
International Beer Day – not to be confused with National Beer Day in the USA – is a real event, not one of the endless (and often mindless) so-called hashtag holidays that PR people love to promote and sometimes drive us blogger crazy with press releases.
Created back in 2008 and celebrated on the first Friday in August, International Beer Day “is a global celebration of beer, taking place in pubs, breweries, and backyards all over the world,” according to its official website. Yes, International Beer Day has an official website.
The date was chosen, according to organizers, “for its summer weather and distance from other beer celebrations.”
Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s talk beer. Specifically international beer. Starting wiht the history of beer.
The History Of Beer
Beer’s orgin dates back to more than 5,000 years (and you complain when your beer gets a flat head on occasion!). China, Egypt Europe and Mesopotamia all had beer, which was thick and dark. In Mesopotamia, many of the brewers were women. So beer did not start out as a man’s drink.
It grew in popularity in Europe in the Middle Ages and was consumed almost daily. In 1516 the Duke of Bavaria in Germany adopted the purity law (the Reinheitsgebot), which is still practiced today. It stipulates that beer ingredients must be water, barley malt and hops. The monks drank it, stating it was safer than water. It probably was at the time. That’s the same reason the British Navy provided daily rations of rum to its sailors.
Favorite International Beers
Here are some of my favorite international beers and the countries which produce them:
• 1664 (France)
• Amstel & Heineken (Holland version; not what we get in the U.S.)
• Bitburger & Hofbrau (Germany)
• Cristal (Peru)
• Leffe (Belgium)
• Molson Canadian & Molson Export (Canada)
• Mythos (Greece)
• Presidente (Dominican Republic)
• Red Stripe (Jamaica)
• Starocesko (Croatia)
• Tiger (Singapore)
• Tooheys New (Australia)
Favorite American Beers
Beers in the USA that I like are more local based and it’s impossible to list my favorite craft beers here (tho that is a blog post worth considering now that I think about it). Still, here’s a few you might see in my hand in the States:
• Budweiser
• Busch (when I’m in my redneck mode, haha)
• Coors Banquet (I won’t touch the light version)
• Genesee
• Kona (Longboard Lager, Big Wave & the potent Firerock)
• Sam Adams
• Yuengling
More Beer!
• National Beer Day